Why Choose Non-Dairy??

It’s a rainy monday morning and I am recouping from a busy weekend.  Feeling a little groggy this morning and thought I would only scratch the surface of cows milk and offer some wonderful alternatives to this controversial substance.

When you go to reach for that cold glass of milk or cream for your coffee, did it ever occur to you how we are able to consume so much and dairy and so abundantly?

Like humans, cows produce milk to nourish their young.  In order to continue to produce milk for our everyday consumption, cows are pumped full of hormones that not only keep them pregnant but increase the amount of milk that they produce.  Each time a cow becomes pregnant and delivers its calf, only to have its young taken away at 1 day old and become what we know as veal, the byproduct of the dairy industry (http://www.peta.org/blog/whats-milk/).  As much as we may not like to think this way, cows are considered to be a very sophisticated animal who live in social hierarchies and form life long bonds with each other, just as humans do.  The bonds between a mother and her calf continues on after the baby grows into adulthood. When a mother is separated from her young, she becomes visibly distressed and displays behaviours inline with grieving and loss (read about this: http://www.gan.ca/animals/cows.en.html ).

At the expense of causing emotional trauma to these animals, we continue to consume these products thoughtlessly. Times have changed and the dairy industry has resorted to these unethical practices to keep up with the demand of its product.

The moral of the story…become aware.  Understand the foods you are consuming and the process that made it possible. By becoming more aware you take less for granted and become more appreciative of food, your body and nature.

With my personal elimination of cow dairy from my diet, I have opted to use some wonderful alternatives:

• Coconut Milk (great in smoothies & desserts)
• Coconut Cream (great for your coffee)
• Cashews (soaking & blending them, creates a wonderful cream based desserts)
• Almond Milk

As a finale to this post, I want to leave you with an amazing non-dairy cheesecake that I came across in hopes of reproducing that euphoric experience you get from eating cheese cake!! Not only does it taste like cheese cake but its healthy and there is absolutely no baking involved,…seems to good to be true!! ENJOY!!!!

Raw Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 6 Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 pinch sea salt

• 3 cups soaked cashews, drained (Soak in water for at least 4 hours or overnight.)
• 1/2-3/4 cups lemon juice
• 3/4 cups pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Fresh fruit for garnish

Instructions

• Evenly sprinkle coconut on the bottom of an 8 or 9″ pie dish.
• In a food processor, blend walnuts, dates and salt until crumbly. Press the crust into an 8-9 inch pie dish.

• Blend (in a high-powered blender) all the “cheese” ingredients until smooth & creamy. Pour the cashew cream evenly over crust and place in freezer for at least 2-3 hours.
• Take cheesecake out of the freezer about 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh fruit and serve.
• Cheesecake can be left out on the counter for a couple of days or store in the fridge for up to a week.